In Space News: Orion EFT-1 launches and splashes down successfully New Horizons coming online to explore Pluto Hayabusa-2 launches for a comet return mission GLONASS K launches atop a Soyuz China launches a military satellite SpaceX CRS-5 will be launching a rocket with fins and landing on a barge

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3 Comments

About “Orion doesn’t have destination.” I think it doesn’t matter. This craft can go anywhere beyond LEO. It’s a big universe so it’s soon enough to give it a target once it’s getting close to being operational.

Orion only has a 21 active day limit. That means we can go out in to the cosmos and return so long as the mission doesn’t take more than 21 days.

It is possible to extend that using an additional habitat module. Then Orion can be out for 6 months of passive time and 21 days of active time. That is juuuuuust barely enough to make it to Mars, but enough.

Problem is, we don’t have the hab module. So Orion is basically stuck to NEO (Near Earth Orbit) for destinations like the Moon and the ISS. Once the hab module is designed and built, then Mars could be within out sites. 2030 maybe? Dunno, that hab needs to be approved and funded first!